Mark your calendar for a live Productivity Week Twitter chat with guest host CMO Dave King from Asana tomorrow, Aug. 17, at 10:30 a.m. PT. We will be using the hashtag #UpworkChat.
We consider ourselves productivity experts at Upwork, connecting clients and freelancers quickly and easily to get more work done every day. But it doesn’t stop there! Upwork employees and the freelancers they work with have many years of experience optimizing their workdays.
Whether it’s connecting with freelancers across the globe on a project you need help with or doing work for clients in different locations, the skills required to meet multiple deadlines, stay organized, and work efficiently are the same. Here are eight simple tips from Inside Upwork you can start using right away to help get more done.
On productivity hacks
“Make a to-do list that you update throughout the day (I keep mine in Notes on my laptop). Make a new one every day, and carry over your incomplete tasks. Not only does it keep all your active tasks in easy access, it also creates a log of work accomplished. Looking at a long list of crossed-out tasks gives me a sense of accomplishment at the end of the workday.
“I am also working toward my own Inbox Zero goal—seeing <10 emails in my inbox gives a powerful feeling of organization and control. That’s something all project managers can relate to!”
— Katy German, Project Manager, Creative
“If you notice that your calendar is booking up days in advance, block out time regularly to work on projects and important initiatives.”
— Erin Hicks, Director, Talent Operations
“1. I always plan ahead and strictly follow my to-do list.
2. I try to create reasonable goals. I often challenge myself with tight deadlines, but still leave some room for breathing so that if anything goes wrong I have the bandwidth to fix it.
3. I don’t force myself to work. Being a remote freelance team member, I have flexible work hours. If I don’t ‘feel like working’ at any certain point, I just skip work for a couple of hours and do something I find refreshing. Often times, I get back to work with doubled energy and spirit.”
— Saidur Mamun Khan, Market Research, Enterprise
On prioritizing tasks
“Working with clients around the globe can come with prioritization challenges. For meetings, I try to fit all the timezones in my business hours — [I schedule] European clients first to catch them before their end of day. East Coast clients get scheduled next, then West Coast, and finally [Asia-Pacific] in the late afternoon to snag their morning. I’ll handle most emails in between meetings during business hours. Once the kids are asleep, I’ll hop back online to handle remaining emails and try to respond to clients outside of the US, since it is their working hours.”
— Nina Sabado Bitz, Program Manager, Enterprise
“Set up in the morning and make a list of what you need to get done; set calendar/alarms to keep you on track if necessary!”
— Brittany Kirby, Customer Support, Premium
“I prioritize tasks by importance. All client-facing tasks are completed first (Upwork Messages, emails, phone), then the basic daily followup outreaches are saved for after clients have all been tended too. The best advice for time management is to build up a routine. Once you establish a routine and follow it as much as possible, everything gets done and your time is not wasted going 500 directions at the same time.”
— Crystal Miller, Upwork Success Manager/Talent Scout
“I’m a total pen-to-paper list maker. Each evening, I generate a list of my to-do’s—organized by client/personal—and I prioritize both on a per-client basis and overall basis based on deadlines. The most valuable thing I have learned about time management as a freelancer is that not everything needs to be done today. It’s OK to space things out and leave things with a less-pressing deadline for tomorrow to ensure that today’s tasks get done to the best of your ability.”
— Jill Kellogg, Social Media Specialist
The only real trick to productivity is getting started. Make your first step today, check out our seven tips for a more productive work day, and start employing some of the strategies right away.
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